Winter Practice Bulletin

Hi everyone,

Welcome to this bumper edition of our practice bulletin, this edition covers November and December.

As we continue to practice within the constraints and challenges of COVID-19, we acknowledge that this uncertainty can significantly impact on our practice, but we will continue to support you and listen to your concerns. Please do contact us, as we want to hear the reality and understand your needs.

Firstly, we want to wish you all a peaceful and safe Christmastime. We know that this year it’s going to be different for us all, but we hope that you can find time to rest and to look after yourself.

We are keen to support you in thinking about your wellbeing and to encourage you to prioritise this, whatever your role. As some of you may know, due to the escalation of COVID-19 and moving to Business Important B; we have taken the decision to pause our Unleashing the Potential of the Workforce programme of work. However, we have decided to continue with the work we had planned in relation to health and wellbeing across Adult Care & Health. This reflects the importance of your health and wellbeing to us as part of the wider Leadership team. Watch out for opportunities to engage in this work over the coming weeks and months.

We are pleased to let you know that Carolyne has been appointed as a Clinical Fellow working with the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer for NHS England. She will be leading work around Social Care Leadership for Occupational Therapists (OT), as well as environmental sustainability. This will be until the end of March next year, on a part-time basis and Lesley Hartland will be supporting with OT professional practice during this time.

We want to thank you again for all your hard work, we recognise that this has been a year we didn’t foresee with both personal and work challenges for us all. We started this bulletin when the first lockdown happened, as a way of connecting with you and supporting your practice with new guidance, resources and recognising your brilliant efforts. We’ve tried to review it regularly to ensure that this is meaningful and helpful to you in your practice and we value your feedback in continuing to develop it.

In 2021, we’re all looking forward to the prospect of a vaccine and some improvement in how we can live and work with less restrictions. We’re so proud and humbled by everything you do and want to celebrate your success and the positive impact you continue to have on people’s lives across Devon.

Finally, you may see this in a variety of communications, but we also want to share this interview with Keri Storey – Head of Service, who talks about her reflections on COVID-19 and the importance of our health and wellbeing both now and into the future.

If you have any suggestions or observations regarding the practice implications, please email us.

1. Celebrating success

Social Worker of the Year celebrations

The Social Worker of the Year celebrations went down a storm and it was great to be part of that, we hope many of you were able to also join the online celebrations that included a number of celebrities such as Jo Brand making an appearance to say thank you. A recording of the event is available to view for those who couldn't make it live.

We received a number of goody bags to celebrate the event and these have been sent to the local teams and individuals who shared their stories and experiences with us during the pandemic.

A special thank you to all our social workers from our Principal Social Workers Tina Ramage and Geraldine Benson and an ask that you start thinking about possible nominations for next year so we can bring some more trophies back home to Devon!

A pioneering new project that supports unpaid carers has been heralded nationally and is shortlisted for a prestigious care award.

It involves dedicated staff from Devon Carers, a service commissioned by Devon County Council and NHS Devon CCG, working closely with hospital teams to identify situations where carers are involved, and where support for those carers is needed for patients to return home safely, or prevent hospital admissions.

2. Team Focus - Meet our Sensory Team

This month we hear from our Sensory Team and find out how they’ve been adapting to working differently and supporting people with hearing and sight loss throughout COVID-19.

3. Social Care Leadership Group (SCLG): Highlights from November's meeting

SLT updates from Gary Patch particularly focused on:

• Prioritising our health and wellbeing
• COVID-19 debrief sessions
• Office 365 roll out
• Hospital Discharge/CHC reviews – STS20/21

We also had updates and presentations on:

• Safeguarding practice in COVID-19 – Nicky Beaton
• Responding to COVID-19: The Ethical Framework – Jeff Walker
• Health & Wellbeing: Vicki Baker and Rachel Oster

A big thank you to all those that support this meeting and those who come along to contribute.

A quick reminder for invitees who missed this month’s SCLG - A recording of the meeting can be accessed via the SCLG Teams site.

4. Practice Focus: Mental Capacity Act – Remote assessments and decision-making

Let Charlie Smith from our DoLs team walk you through his presentation, which will help to support you in carrying out Mental Capacity Act remote assessments and decision making during COVID-19.

Charlie will talk you through:

• Understanding the 5 statutory principles of the MCA, the 2-stage test of capacity and best interests decision making.
• Knowing why good record keeping is important
• Be aware of the challenges of remote assessments and what strategies can employed to overcome problems.
• What should be done to resolve disputes in respect of a person who lacks mental capacity.

Unfortunately, recently we have seen a high level of people cancelling training places and in particular on safeguarding courses. Safeguarding is classed as an area which is essential for the effective delivery of services and has been given an even higher status in the light of COVID-19. If you are considering cancelling a training place, please seek authorisation from your Team Manager and consider the cost of £61 per place to the organisation. Safeguarding duties have not changed during COVID-19 and it is important that we have a workforce that is suitably trained.

8. Health and Wellbeing:

How to access information and resources to support your Health & Wellbeing

There is a wealth of Health & Wellbeing resources Inside Devon, which can be found on the dedicated Health & Wellbeing pages.

These pages include information and resources relating to:

• Mental health and wellbeing
• Personal and team resilience
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• Manager resources
• Policies

It is essential that we continue to prioritise our own health and wellbeing, please take the time to explore these pages and use what works for you.

This Winter operational and commissioning teams will be offered the opportunity to participate in ‘Sustaining Our Resilience in COVID-19’ workshops. The purpose of these workshops is to help our teams feel valued, recognised and supported. Giving the opportunity for teams to debrief, process and grow their resilience during COVID-19 and beyond. Details of the workshops will be communicated with you shortly via Team Managers. If you do have any queries about the workshops please contact the Workforce Development team.

9. Becki Billing - Practice lead for Short-term Services Development

Hello, I wanted to take an opportunity to introduce myself and my role. My name is Becki Billing and I am an Occupational Therapist. At the beginning of November, I began a secondment to DCC, my job title is Practice Lead for short term services development…. But what does that mean?

Earlier in the year there was a ‘stock take’ undertaken of all short-term services that were offered across Devon, this means: Social Care Reablement, Rapid Response and Urgent Community Response. It was decided that we would start a piece of work aligning these services more closely in order to provide a more joined up approach that will deliver better outcomes for people.

I will be working with leads from the NHS Trusts across Devon. It is my role to act as an expert in practice, meaning I get to use my skills and knowledge as an Occupational Therapist, focusing on ensuring we take an enabling approach throughout all short term services.

I will be looking at National Guidance and examples of good practice to see what we can learn from other areas. I will initially be looking at the skills and competencies staff in these services have and work towards producing a shared skills framework.

If you are thinking you may have met me before you are probably right as I have previously worked for DCC as an Occupational Therapist, and as a Team Manager! My substantive post now is working in Torbay & South Devon as Team Lead for the Intermediate Care Team in Newton Abbot.

Lesley Hartland - Occupational Therapy (OT) Leadership Support

To support Carolyne Hague with her OT principal professional leadership workload in Devon; we have appointed Lesley Hartland an Occupational Therapist, currently a Team Manager within Honiton Community Health and Social Care Team. Lesley started this new role this month. She will be working 22.5 hours per week and maintaining one day per week in the Honiton Community Health and Social Care Team until 31 March, leading on areas such as the DILIS Community equipment service, whilst Carolyne is on secondment.  

10. An update from Nicky Beaton – our Safeguarding Adults Practice Lead

Devon safeguarding Adult Partnership (DSAP) – Self-Neglect Guidance

The purpose of this guidance is to provide a framework for best practice when responding to Self-Neglect and/or Hoarding concerns for adults with care and support needs within Devon.

The guidance has been uploaded to the DSAP Website and accessible via the following link.

Additionally, just to flag to you all that in October Lambeth Safeguarding Adult Board launched a new animation video which highlights the challenges faced when working with someone who can self-neglect. The key messages within this video are taken from lessons learnt from a Lambeth’s SAR but resonate with the lessons learned from recent Devon SARs. Devon Safeguarding Adult Partnership has been given authorisation to credit Lambeth and use this key message video here in Devon. The video is accessible via the following link.  I encourage you all, including your staff to take some time out to view the video.

Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP): Supporting the application of strengths-based working across safeguarding and all practice

The Local Government Association (LGA) is working in partnership with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) to develop and deliver a support offer embedding the MSP approach within the adult safeguarding framework. As a result of this work there have been several resources developed to support good practice of MSP.

A review of the main LGA MSP web page details the resources available which will help to strengthen your MSP practice within adult safeguarding. I would also highlight the Making Safeguarding Personal Toolkit. This was updated in January 2020 and provides a practice toolkit guiding you through the best approaches and effective application of safeguarding with a range of helpful tools and practice-based case examples.

Do you want to learn more about eastern safeguarding processes?

The Eastern Adults Safeguarding Team facilitate regular information sessions for Exeter, East & mid-Devon that cover:

• What to consider when making a referral
• How cases are triaged on the Hub
• Risk assessment
• Importance of Making Safeguarding Personal

This is not an exclusive list; with much more to learn.  If you wish to join a session please contact Jackie.makin@devon.gov.uk or carly.stacey@devon.gov.uk

11. Additional practice information and resources: Links to information that you need to know!

Jeff Walker takes us through ‘The Ethical Framework’ for our practice:

I’m sure all of you know about and are using or referring to the Ethical Framework, in your everyday practice.

This useful document came out of Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC): Responding to COVID-19: the ethical framework for adult social care

Although the ethical framework was developed in light of the pandemic, it captures the key ethical values that adult social care work is built upon.

It is what we should be using to frame all of our decisions in practice.

What have you done to help you embed this in your practice?

We’ve spoken to your colleagues and made;

• a staff guidance for you,
• we’ve also made a video of a presentation for you, with a practice example of how Cameron has applied the principles. 
• and the presentation itself …if you want to check it out. 

Where can I find it?

The materials are all here on the ReSource main Assessment page:  

New carers campaign

The number of people caring for loved ones in Devon is predicted to have risen to over 130,000 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic but only 20,000 of those are accessing the vital support available to them through Devon Carers, to help maintain their own health and wellbeing.

On Monday 30 November, we launched a four-month campaign to encourage unpaid carers in Devon to recognise the important role they’re playing and register for the free support and advice that is available via Devon Carers to help them.

Artwork has been produced that you can post on your social media accounts, or follow Devon Carers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and share or like their posts.

You could also share the information with your network of contacts or by signposting to Devon Carers. Finally, please let your colleagues know about the campaign and the important work Devon Carers does so that they are aware of what support is available when they come into contact with unpaid carers.

Anything you can do will contribute to helping unpaid carers in Devon get the support they deserve.

If you have any questions about the campaign please contact Sue Younger-Ross or Owain Bale.

Brian Cassidy from the DoLs team: Mental Capacity Act resources update

For those who may have missed it, SCIE updated its pages on the Mental Capacity Act in October. The layout and categorisation is much better, and well worth a look for all areas of practice.

View the SCIE MCA Directory.

Rob Smith - RAS Practice Support updates us on changes to the RAS hint text.

Working in the RAS Practice Support role has enabled me to identify areas of the RAS where we may be able to help workers score more consistently and avoid confusion.

A recent addition of hint text to support the scoring of the meal preparation frequency, Section 40.1.3 within the RAS page of the assessment, will hopefully make this area easier to understand and score.

We will continue to strive to help workers in their understanding and application of the RAS.

On behalf of the Devon Moving & Handling Group: An Update to ‘Your Care and Support Plan’ on CareFirst:

There have been two new questions added to the ‘Your Care and Support Plan’ in CareFirst about moving and handling plans. They are positioned in the section below the goals and the summary of how care and support plan will promote the person’s wellbeing.

The two new questions are: